Many locations around the world are currently experiencing a major water deficit. In Australia for instance, research conducted by the Australian Water Services Association in 2005 showed there will be a national shortfall of 275 giga-liters—about one half of Sydney Harbour—by 2015, and 818 giga-liters by 2030.
In Australia, Sydney and Brisbane will be the worst-affected, needing to cut consumption by 54 percent and 51 percent respectively, to prevent a dire water shortage by 2030. Melbourne and Perth need reductions of 41 percent.
The research shows that 27 giga-liters of water more than the sustainable yield of the Australia's storage system is being used each year, despite water restrictions and increasing government attempts to promote water conservation.
The shortfall is caused by climate change, declining rainfall, population growth, more water being used for environmental flows, and insufficient measures to curb water use.
The looming deficit in Australia is particularly alarming because it assumes Australians would have conserved about 7 percent more water than they were presently using, that 25 percent of all new developments would have recycled water, and that water-efficient washing machines and appliances would be standard.
Large-scale engineering solutions, such as desalination plants and the reuse of stormwater and waste water, need to be balanced against the energy requirements and increased greenhouse gas emissions of such projects.
The bathroom is responsible for a high percentage of household water consumption and the shower plays a leading role. It is estimated that the average shower experience is around 8 minutes, and recent Government initiatives in Australia are encouraging a reduction of this time to 4 minutes.
A majority of homes in Australia (estimated to be in excess of 70%), have showerheads that are capable of flowing at 20 liters per minute. Therefore, an 8 minute shower could consume as much as 160 liters of water.
If four people in the same home were to take an 8 minute shower, then around 640 liters of water could be consumed each day or 4,480 liters per week or 232,960 liters per year.
The use of a ‘water saving’ showerhead that consumes around 5 liters per minute, would provide water savings of around 75%.
However, many water saving showerheads currently available have either a spray angle which is too wide or too narrow for adequate user comfort. Some other water saving showerheads emit ‘bullet-like’ fingers of water, which not only reduces user comfort, but also allows more of the water to come into contact with air from the time the water is emitted from the showerhead to the time it makes contact with the user of the shower, significantly reducing the temperature of the water. Other water saving showerheads have a weak water spray. These problems result in substantially reduced comfort for the user, and a decreased overall adoption of water saving showerheads.
Moreover, some water saving shower systems involve recycling water used within the shower, a prospect which many users would not find appealing.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a showerhead which has a flow rate of around 5 liters of water per minute, yet provides a solid spray cone, wherein all of the volume of the spray cone is utilised and where the spray cone is of sufficient intensity to optimise user comfort and enjoyment.